UCLA seniors celebrate bittersweet senior night without Jim Mora

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A UCLA fan wears a shirt in support of former coach Jim Mora during the first half of Friday’s game against Cal at the Rose Bowl. UCLA fired Mora on Sunday, and he was on the minds of a lot of his players during senior night festivities as well. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

PASADENA — As if UCLA’s week needed to get any more emotional. After head coach Jim Mora was fired Sunday, UCLA capped a tumultuous week by honoring its seniors before Friday’s game at the Rose Bowl.

Instead of Mora sending the seniors out of the Rose Bowl tunnel for a final time as head coaches often do for the annual ceremony, individual position coaches hugged each player before they ran out to the field.

“What type of people don’t even let my man coach Mora not even get to send his seniors off on senior night. All he did for the program that’s the least y’all could’ve did,” safety Jaleel Wadood wrote on Twitter before the game.

“Any way this last one is for you big Jim, love you boss man,” he continued.

What type of people don't even let my man coach Mora not even get to send his seniors off on senior night. All he did for the program that's the least y'all could've did smh.

Wadood has been a stalwart for UCLA’s defense since he was a freshman from St. John Bosco High. He started his 40th career game Friday, the second most for a defensive player behind linebacker Kenny Young’s 41.

When asked this week how he wants his final game at the Rose Bowl to go, Young said he wanted to finish with a win, but also have it be a celebration of a tumultuous ride.

“We’ve had a journey of pure work and adversity and ups and downs and off the field as well, so I just want us to have fun,” Young said. “That’s the key to it all, just be able to smile at the end of the day knowing that you gave it your all.”

Several of UCLA’s seniors had their careers cut short by injuries this year, including offensive lineman Kenny Lacy, who had preseason hip surgery, and receiver Darren Andrews, who suffered a season-ending knee injury three weeks ago.

Andrews was the last senior to have his name called Friday. He slowly emerged from the tunnel on crutches with a large brace on his right leg after he underwent ACL surgery this month. He waved sheepishly to the crowd before going to the sideline.

While the Bruins were missing Mora on the sideline, they did see a familiar face in former wide receivers coach Eric Yarber. Yarber, now the Los Angeles Rams’ receiver coach, hugged several of his former players on the way out of the tunnel, including receiver Alex Van Dyke.

Redshirt juniors Jordan Lasley, Adarius Pickett, Kolton Miller and Austin Roberts were also honored in the pregame ceremony despite still having eligibility at UCLA after this year.

GOING BOWLING

With two teams vying for bowl eligibility, only one bowl game – the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl – sent representatives to Friday’s game. The Independence Bowl, scheduled for Dec. 27 at 10:30 a.m. PT in Shreveport, La., is contracted with the ACC and SEC, but could be forced to take a team from another conference if the ACC or SEC don’t have enough bowl-eligible teams.

Thuc Nhi Nguyen has covered UCLA for the Southern California News Group since 2016. A proud Seattle native, she majored in journalism and mathematics at the University of Washington. She likes graphs, animated GIFs and superheroes.